David Sprason: Porn belongs in the bedroom

Erotic entertainment is all very well, says Dr Brooke Magnanti, but
don't risk your job by mixing business with pleasure.

David Sprason, deputy leader of Leicestershire County Council, has admitted watching hard-core pornography on a work laptop but said it was simply a “tool” that he and his wife used to help their relationship.

So far, so post-50 Shades society. Watching adult entertainment together has long been a staple of 'hotting up' long-term relationships and more people are admitting to this than ever before. In normal circumstances who could disapprove of a married man keeping his wife happy? But on your work laptop... sorry, mate, you lost my sympathy on that one.

One of the most insidious things about our 24/7 media culture is the extent to which personal and professional lines are blurred. Now we’re expected to answer emails at all hours of the day and night.

There are extra considerations when the topic is porn as well. You know me, I'm a staunch defender of the sexual rights of adults and think that erotic entertainment is, on balance, more good than bad.

But there has to be a line. Grown-up extra-curriculars need to stay in the bedroom (or dungeon, or sauna) where they belong. No one – and I mean no one – wants cause to imagine their co-workers in the altogether unless they happen to work on a porn set.

There is simply no excuse for risking your job over something so easily avoidable. Logging out of one machine and logging into another, how long would that have taken? A few seconds, tops?

Watching porn on the work laptop is surely as unacceptable as adding your boss as a "friend" on Facebook.

Please, folks, do us all a favour: Get clued up on internet surveillance and security, and keep your work accounts clean. Not all of us can be so lucky as to make a living from sex.